On September 14, 2017 LifePro presented their annual LifePro University (LPU) to a packed house of 250 attendees - made up of financial advisors, insurance carrier representatives, and other industry experts. Hosted in sunny San Diego, CA, LPU 2017 focused on the proven growth strategies that independent financial professionals use in any environment, even during the most uncertain times.

The day kicked off at 9:00am with an incredible live performance of the National Anthem from LPU speaker, and the President of Impact Speakers, Jimmy Pomerance. Shortly after, LifePro President and LPU 2017 host, Ben Nevejans, took the stage to review the speaker lineup before transitioning into his own segment of the show.

Confident Growth in Uncertain Times

Ben Nevejans
President, LifePro

Ben’s presentation focused on the tools and strategies that can and will provide clarity and growth during the financial industry’s current uncertain times. More specifically, he shared the tools and strategies that LifePro has developed that will not only propel an advisor’s business but position them as a true hero to the clients and prospects they work with.

“Our [LifePro’s] job is to make you a hero to your clients,” stated Nevejans. He went on to discuss some of the specific tools available through LifePro, including the new “Test Drive an IUL” calculator and the highly-popular Wealth Report. Both of these tools have been helping financial advisors show their clients how an IUL policy could be used more effectively in their overall financial plan.

In addition, Ben spoke about LifePro’s new weekly video series, Money Script Monday, that was rolled out this past June. Advisors have access to this free video series, which provides financial clarity and education on how money works. But more importantly, most of the videos are consumer friendly, so they can be used to communicate and share these messages with an advisor’s client base as well.

The next topic focused on why financial professionals avoid doing regular annual reviews with their clients. Ben stated, “many of you don’t do annual reviews with your clients because the statements and reports from the carriers are confusing, and also because many advisors are fearful of presenting a policy to a client that hasn’t yet developed into a positive return.” Ben quickly followed that up by explaining how the LifePro Annual Policy Performance Review report handles both of those fears, allowing advisors to increase business within their existing client base, and strengthen relationships with these individuals to increase referral business as well.

Ben finished off his presentation by relaying a story once told by Supreme Court Justice Lousie Brandeis who, upon commuting to work from Alexandria, VA to Washington DC had the option of crossing the Potomac via a toll bridge or traveling a few extra miles and using a free bridge. He compared this choice to taxations, stating that to utilize the toll bridge without paying the toll would be equivalent to “tax evasion” and thus he should be punished. Contrastly, using the “free bridge” would be an example of “tax avoidance” for which he should be commended. The Chief Justice went on to say that the tragedy of life is that so few people know that the “free bridge” even exists. Ben likened that “free bridge” to Indexed Universal Life and explained that LifePro’s charge is to help their advisors bring awareness to that “free bridge.”

How to Deliver the Most Engaging and Dynamic Presentations

Jimmy Pomerance
CEO, Impact Speakers

Jimmy Pomerance, or Jimmy P. as many know him, came to LifePro University 2017 with 15 years of experience teaching, training, and coaching sales professionals across many industries. And this experience didn’t go unnoticed for a second.

He started his presentation by encouraging the audience to write down the most memorable speakers they have ever heard, along with a list of the 3 aspects of their presentation that made them so memorable. The goal of doing this was to highlight the idea that “what you say is important, but to be memorable the delivery is what matters the most.” The bulk of his presentation then focused on the 3 areas of a presenter’s delivery that are most important: body, mind, and soul.

A presenter’s body language is so important to creating a unique and captivating delivery. Jimmy discussed the impact that gestures can make during a presentation to emphasize things, but too few people actually know how to come back to a “home base” position after making that gesture. He demonstrated a variety of visual cues that an audience will look for when watching a presentation, including where the presenter puts their hands, how long they make eye contact with the audience, and the tone and speed of the presenter’s voice. Jimmy stated that “the goal is to be the same person you are on stage as you are in a one-on-one conversation.”

As it relates to the mind, Jimmy talked about how to compose a presentation in a way that will be clear to the audience. Just like asking your child to clean up their bedroom, a presenter should be specific in what action they want their audience to take when they’re finished speaking. But they should also make sure they’re prepared to explain why the listener should take that action, or “what exactly is in it for them.” And just like his presentation was set up, Jimmy stressed the “power of three,” or always structuring a presentation into three parts. And if all else fails, a presenter should “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.”

Finally, Jimmy P. discussed the importance of having “soul”, or more simply said, the spirit, passion, energy, and sincerity that shows through in a presentation. This is the most important part because it’s when you gain your listener’s trust. Jimmy reminded the audience that “this is not something that can be taught, so it’s important to believe in what you’re saying.”

Before Jimmy could say his final words, an audience member stood up from his seat and stated “I’ve been presenting to clients and prospects for the past 35 years, but I can honestly say that I actually got something of real value out of this presentation.”

Top Producer Panel - Question & Answer

VIP & Elite Panel
LifePro Advisors

Rounding out the morning, LifePro brought 4 of their top advisors to the stage to answer a series of questions about their business and their most successful client acquisition strategies. This portion of the day’s lineup was an audience-favorite because of the insight that was provided from some of the industry’s most successful financial advisors. The panel was made up of a group of advisors working out of 4 completely different cities/markets, with a variety of experience levels.

Aaron Andrew, based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a five-year MDRT member with 2 Top of the Table and 3 Court of the Table honors. His practice, made up of 25 employees, focuses a lot of their efforts on marketing to drive in new business, including a weekend radio show and 5-10 seminars per month. He described how ? of his business comes from existing clients, ? comes from referrals, and the last ? comes from new business. Aaron discussed the importance of staying in touch with his clients on a regular basis. He does this through regular newsletters, emails, and client appreciation events. By doing this, he can ensure that he is handling ? of his business (existing clients and referrals from those existing clients).

Based out of San Diego, Ian Maxwell, who has only been in the business for 4 years has already reached MDRT levels through his seminars and his unique client filtering strategy. Ian described how he is seeing a huge demand from clients for advisors that can take a holistic approach to their financial roadmap. He referenced a book titled “The Selling Chronicles” written by Steve Lewit, that has helped him structure his initial appointments with clients making them more efficient. He stated “I believe you should always use the first appointment to have a 2-way interview with the client. This allows me to figure out who wants to work with me, but more importantly, who I want to work with in return.”

Alison Mueller, who works as an “army of 1” just like Ian comes to the financial services industry with an engineering background. Based out of Buffalo, NY, Alison described her partnership with many local CPAs and law firms that drive in a majority of her new business. She hosts many seminars every year and stressed the importance of having patience and persistence with clients that she meets at these events. “Sometimes it will take 6-9 months for a client to want to move forward with anything. This is why I love having LifePro send regular emails to my seminar attendees who may not be ready to set an appointment with me immediately.”

Jeremy Farmer, whose office is located just outside of Houston, Texas, was a unique addition to the panel. Jeremy started a college planning practice 15 years ago, and over the last few years, he has started to include life insurance in his portfolio, allowing him to be more than a college planner and more of a holistic trusted advisor for his clients. He discussed the value that annual reviews are having on his business because they are allowing him to sit down with his clients on a regular basis to identify what’s working and what changes may have taken place in their lives.

The Ultimate CPA Partnership Opportunity

Ken Buckley
President, The Buckley Group

Following the 45-minute lunch break, Ken Buckley, president of The Buckley Group, took the stage to educate the audience about a unique partnership opportunity that many financial advisors are not taking advantage of. More specifically, he described the value that partnering with a CPA firm (who often have a number of clients who desperately need large case premium financed life insurance policies) can have on an independent financial advisor’s business.

Ken kicked things off by showing a number of estate planning options that CPAs often know nothing about, including the IRC 6166 and the Graegin Loan. By educating CPAs on these often overlooked concepts, an advisor can build credibility and trust with a CPA firm. Ken stated, “Too often CPAs are used to just offering Term traditional insurance to their clients, but if you can open their minds to the value of offering premium financing strategies to their clients, they will no doubt want to work with you.”

And this was the theme throughout his presentation! He went on to discuss some of the most effective ways to approach CPA firms through online or in-person events. “All CPAs are looking for an easy way to get their CLE credits complete every year. If you conduct an event where they can complete their needed CLE credits while also teaching them about estate planning, which many are not very well-versed in, you can get them in the door.”

Ken wrapped up his presentation by talking about The Buckley Group and how they can help with the costs and content needed to conduct an event such as this. They bring 27 years of experience exclusively focused on premium financing. Their partnership with 15 insurance carriers and 21 banks allows them to ensure a unique strategy is created for every client.

The Power of Living Benefits with a Life Insurance Policy

Heather Ulz
CEO, LifePro

LifePro’s CEO, Heather Ulz, presented an impactful, 30-minute presentation about the power of Living Benefits by telling personal stories of people in her life who have seen the value in Life Insurance. Most notably, she told the story of LifePro founder, Bill Zimmerman, who used the advanced death benefit in his policy the past few years to construct his dream home the exact way he wanted it to look.

Heather noted, “September is a big month for LifePro for a number of reasons, but most importantly, it’s Life Insurance Awareness Month. This is a time where we can truly show the value that we can bring to a client by protecting their wealth and providing them with future income in retirement.”

She pointed out that 30% of U.S. households remain uninsured, and that there are 4 current generations that will need our help:

• Baby Boomers 1 (1946-1954)
• Baby Boomers 2 (1955-1965)
• Generation X (1966-1976)
• Generation Y (1977-1994)

Heather reminded attendees that LifePro is “an advocate in your corner” and that they should feel “independent but not alone” when partnering with them. She expressed their goal to constantly be on the forefront of change in the financial services industry, allowing the LifePro team to provide consistent, knowledgeable direction and clarity for all advisors they work with.

State of the Economy Address and LifePro Asset Management Update

Robert Reaburn
Vice President, LifePro Asset Management

Rob Reaburn, the Executive Vice President of LifePro Asset Management, gave a “Capital Markets Update” address, along with a breakdown of how advisors can use the LifePro Asset Management platform to improve client outcomes and reduce their workload while making more money.

Rob highlighted the unique “Discover, Secure and Invest” approach to asset allocation that LifePro Asset Management advisors have EXCLUSIVE access to, that can be used to increase life insurance and annuity production while generating rivers of recurring revenue for their business through assets under management.

• Discover lifestyle funding - Determine annual income required in retirement.
• Secure lifestyle - Maximize use of principal protection tools that are tax efficient.
• Invest the Surplus – Target higher returns through investments with surplus capital.

Robert went on to discuss the role that LPAM can play in an advisor’s business by stating “this is the 1st turnkey financial planning platform that places stability and tax protection at the center of your client's financial map. Our goal is to improve outcomes for your clients, decrease your workload and costs, and of course make you more money.”

This unique stability-focused asset allocation process is powered by the LPAM Retirement Engine, a financial planning software that places fixed sources of funding at the core of retirement planning. “The retirement engine was designed to remove bias from the asset allocation process and allow the needs of the client to drive product selection.”

With LPAM already onboarding a number of advisors to their platform, Robert described the customized entrepreneurial process an advisor can expect to experience, “we will identify your vision, the tools needed to deploy your strategy, and then automate the areas of your business you prefer to focus less time on. LifePro Asset Management stands alone in the RIA world as one of the few RIA’s in the marketplace that offer in-house investment management, giving advisors and their clients the unique opportunity to meet with the investment team making the actual stock investment decisions for their portfolio.”

Rob wrapped up his presentation by providing the audience with an update on how the LPAM investment strategies have performed year to date vs. their relevant benchmarks. With just over 8 months in the books, the flagship LPAM Tactical Opportunity and Growth strategy has a return generated of +15.40% vs. +11.59% for the S&P 500 as of September 13th, 2017. The leading macro indicators that LifePro Asset Management track point to continued upside for the equity markets for the remainder of 2017 and are positioning client portfolios in line with this view.

KEYNOTE: How to Gain the Competitive Advantage in Selling

Dr. Tony Alessandra
Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencer

LifePro University’s keynote speaker, Dr. Tony Alessandra, then took the stage to wrap up the day! Tony provided the audience with a 90-minute interactive discussion that demonstrated how to become a solution consultant by focusing more on studying customer needs and assuring customer satisfaction than on pitching product features.

“People don’t want to feel as if they’re being sold to. You should not be pitching a product, you should be pitching a needs-analysis,” stated Tony. He described his first sales job as a representative selling cookware. Through initial failure in this role, he quickly realized that it’s impossible to sell a product before knowing a client’s needs. “Receiving a prescription before receiving a diagnosis is a medical malpractice, so why would you try to sell someone a solution for a problem that hasn’t yet been identified? This is sales malpractice!”

Dr. Tony Alessandra focused on the importance of having Apostles in your business, or “the ideal clients that you would want to duplicate in your business.” He described ways that you create more Apostles by regularly socializing with your current Apostles, sending them gifts and cards, and referring business to them even before they may have referred business to you. He challenged the room to develop relationships with 12 Apostles over the next 3-4 years.

He continued his presentation by talking about the value that having a powerful Competitive Advantage statement can have for any sales professional. He described a Competitive Advantage statement to be a “30-second statement that prompts a customer to say ‘I want to know more.’” This statement can easily be constructed by including your name, company name, a typical problem experienced by your target market, and an intriguing statement about how you can solve that problem. Tony pointed out that this statement can “help you differentiate yourself from the competition by highlighting your advantages and uniqability.”

Tony wrapped up the day’s presentations by showing a chart that the audience could use to rate their customer’s direct/indirect communication style and level of openness/guardedness. Tony explained that by “adapting your sales strategy to cater to each client’s individual style, you can get through to them, build that trust, and close the sale.”

The day concluded with a final send-off from LPU 2017 host, Ben Nevejans, thanking the attendees for coming and reviewing the list of other upcoming live events that they could attend in the future. Guests were then invited to a cocktail reception following the event.